The FBI is asking agents from across the United States to go to Minneapolis for temporary duty, according to people familiar with the matter.
The bureau has sent out messages to agencies across the country in recent days, seeking volunteers who will be temporarily transferred to the city, people familiar with the matter said. The messages did not specifically mention the escalating anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests in the city or detail the mission, people familiar with the matter said.
The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security have increased their presence in Minneapolis. The city has become the focus of anti-ICE protests after a police officer shot and killed a woman, Renee Good, while she was in her car on Jan. 7.
It’s unclear what the FBI will ask agents who volunteer to go to Minneapolis to do. FBI agents have traditionally focused on tasks related to national security, such as counterterrorism, organized crime and high-profile violent crimes.
FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy U.S. Attorney Todd Branch visited Minneapolis on Friday, according to a report postal Share on Patel’s X account. In the post, Patel said the FBI was “cracking down on violent rioters and investigating the funding networks that support criminals, resulting in multiple arrests.”
The FBI declined to comment.
President Donald Trump has also threatened to send in the military to quell the demonstrations.
On Friday, a federal judge Already ordered Immigration officials are prohibited from arresting, detaining, pepper-spraying or otherwise retaliating against peaceful protesters in Minneapolis after demonstrators claim their constitutional rights were violated.
In a statement to Bloomberg in response to the ruling, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the Department of Homeland Security “is taking appropriate constitutional steps to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters.”
Traditionally, immigration has not been a core mission of the FBI. About a quarter of the bureau’s agents are assigned immigration-related duties, according to Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. Share with media October.